AQ THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
stem close to the ground. Around Sydney they have been 
‘very destructive in vegetable gardens, and at Tamworth they 
also attacked lucerne. At Hawkesbury Agricultural College, 
though they swarmed through the fields and orchards, the 
‘cereal crops were hardly affected ; but they were very de- 
structive in the vegetable plots, many beds having to be 
entirely replanted,6n September ieiects Beatie to from four to six 
inches below the soil revealed dozens: of full-grown larve about 
‘to pupate. Three caterpillars thus unearthed I noticed had 
each a small external parasitic grub (Hymenoptera) attached 
to the segments close behind the head. ‘hese parasitic grubs 
(about fin. in length) fed on the juices of their living host, 
and grew with great rapidity in length and bulk (about 4%in. 
to #in. in length), and there was a corresponding decided 
‘decrease in the bulk of the caterpillar hosts. Hight days later 
(20-9-’06) one had become fully grown, and spun black silk 
over the loose soil ; by the 23rd it had formed a neat cylindrical 
cocoon of black silk. Another individual had also by this time 
spun a little silk. The cocoon suggests a /I'hynnid or Scoliid 
wasp, but until the adult appears the, insect cannot be 
identified —th W. Gurney. 
New Boox.—Just prior to going to press the Club received 
as an addition to its library, ‘‘ Fishes of Australia,” by Mr. D. 
G. Stead, Naturalist to the Fisheries Board,—one of our mem- 
bers. The work is a valuable addition to contemporary scien- 
tific literature, but is written in such a manner, that whilst 
being useful to the naturalist advanced in his study, it is also 
easily understandable by the non-scientific, yet nevertheless 
intelligent, reader. In preparing the work the author has 
aimed at accuracy of description combined with lucidity and 
simplicity of diction; moreover, it is admirably illustrated. 
With such a book as this at his hand, the reader interested in 
the study of our Fish fauna, has indeed a yaluable guide. 
This is, we venture to hope, the first of a series of useful books 
—indeed, sadly needed—dealing popularly with Australian 
biological science, and the non-existence of which has long 
been a reproach. The work is published by Wm. Brooks & Co., 
of Sydney, and from a printer's point of view, is a credit both 
to the firm and the mechanical staff. 
MicrRAtion or SwaLLows.—A letter received August, 1906, 
from Mr. H. A. Elliott, Hon. Secretary of the Tasmanian Field 
Naturalists’ Club, who has been collecting dates of arrival of 
swallows (Hirundo neoxena, Gould) in ‘Tasmania, asks for any 
data members of the New South Wales Naturalists’ Club can 
supply on the times of departure southward of flights of swal- 
lows on the mainland. Notes dealing with this subject can be 
forwarded to Mr. Elliott through our Hon. Secretary. 
